UPDATE: Swine Flu Update
Hey folks,
I'm still getting, well, before the Email Change, NEW EMAIL opntalk@gmail.com, from some of you wondering why I keep following this so closely. Here is why. Normal Flu has a season. When it turns warmer, it goes away to return during "Flu Season" then goes away again. Not with Swine Flu. It is still very much alive and is STILL Spreading. So what happens when actual "Flu Season" DOES come back around? Will it be more deadly? Will it spread MORE easily? Will it mutate to become something else? This is why it HAS to be watched. According to the AP - Swine flu shots at school: Bracing for fall return By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard, Ap Medical Writer – 1 hr 10 mins ago
WASHINGTON – U.S. swine flu vaccinations could begin in October with children among the first in line — at their local schools — the Obama administration said Thursday as the president and his Cabinet urged states to figure out now how they'll tackle the virus' all-but-certain resurgence.
"We may end up averting a crisis. That's our hope," said President Barack Obama, who took time away from the G-8 summit in Italy to telephone another summit back home — the 500 state and local health officials meeting to prepare for swine flu's fall threat.
No final decision has been made on whether to vaccinate Americans, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius stressed. That depends largely on studies with experimental batches that are set to start the first week of August — to see if they're safe and seem to work and to learn whether they require one or two doses.
But if all goes well, the federal government will buy vaccine from manufacturers and share it for free among the states, which must then "try and get this in the arms of the targeted population as soon as possible," Sebelius said.
First in line probably will be school-age children, young adults with risky conditions such as asthma, pregnant women and health workers, she said. Unlike regular winter flu, the swine flu seems more dangerous to these groups than to older people.
"Schools are natural places" to offer those vaccines, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said.
Go home and get schools, mayors and other community leaders to spread that message, Sebelius said.
"The last thing we want is millions of parents to be surprised" the day the get-your-kid-vaccinated-at-school note comes home, she said.
Schools do occasionally team up with local health officials for special flu vaccination clinics, but it's not common. More than 140 schools around the country scheduled flu vaccination days last fall, some providing free vaccine. Some vaccinated only students bearing parent consent forms; others opened their doors to entire families.
It will be a confusing fall, Sebelius acknowledged. Doctors' offices, clinics and even grocery stores will be in the midst of dispensing 100 million-plus doses of regular winter flu vaccine — and the swine flu vaccine, which will roll out slowly, will require at least one completely separate inoculation.
"We know a mass vaccination program of even modest scale will involve extraordinary effort on your part," Sebelius told state health workers.
She also announced $350 million in grants to help states prepare, money to be used partly to brace hospitals for a surge of demand from the truly sick and the well-but-worried.
"We want to make sure we are not promoting panic but we are promoting vigilance and preparation," Obama told the gathering.
State officials welcomed the funds but had more practical questions for the feds, starting with what they learned from the chaos when swine flu first burst on the scene last spring and schools around the country closed because of sick students.
Since then, the virus has infected an estimated 1 million Americans and still is spreading, remarkable considering influenza usually can't tolerate summer's heat and humidity.
"What I need from all of you is an idea of when it is best to close, when it is necessary to close and when it's not," said Belinda Pustka, superintendent of Texas' Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District.
"Closing school is a last resort not a first resort," Duncan stressed, but he said schools need to plan how they'll keep students learning if they do have to close for extended periods.
Pustka's schools posted assignments online. But Sue Todey of Wisconsin's Department of Public Education said that between rural geography and poverty, many students don't have the necessary Internet access and she's exploring using public television or old-fashioned sending home of paper assignments.
An even bigger problem: When schools close and working parents need to stay home — or any worker gets sick — too often, they don't get paid, said Paul Jarris of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. So they come to work, spreading infection.
"How are we going to assist people who don't have benefits?" he asked.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said she was working with the Labor Department to address that question, and she urged employers to allow telecommuting and make other provisions should swine flu hit their workplaces this fall.
Swine flu outbreaks in the fall are all but certain given its continued spread here — 50 outbreaks in children's summer camps so far — and abroad, with major problems in parts of the Southern Hemisphere.
What doctors can't predict is how bad it will be during the U.S. flu season, but Obama's team of heavy-hitters spent Thursday warning against complacency.
Even if swine flu proves no more deadly than regular winter flu, that kills 36,000 Americans a year — and with swine flu, teenagers and young adults are being disproportionately hit, said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And both types could very well spread at the same time this fall.
"If it doesn't happen, we'll be fortunate," Sebelius added.
CDC Update Case count on their site?
Alabama 400 cases 0 deaths
Alaska 122 cases 0 deaths
Arizona 762 cases 11 deaths
Arkansas 42 cases 0 deaths
California 2461 31 deaths
Colorado 146 cases 0 deaths
Connecticut 1364 cases 6 deaths
Delaware 347 cases 0 deaths
Florida 1781 cases 7 death
Georgia 138 cases 0 deaths
Hawaii 722 cases 1 death
Idaho 115 cases 0 deaths
Illinois 3259 cases 14 deaths
Indiana 273 cases 0 deaths
Iowa 156 cases 0 deaths
Kansas 136 cases 0 deaths
Kentucky 130 cases 0 deaths
Louisiana 183 cases 0 deaths
Maine 107 cases 0 deaths
Maryland 686 cases 2 death
Massachusetts 1328 cases 4 deaths
Michigan 489 cases 8 deaths
Minnesota 634 3 death
Mississippi 188 cases 0 deaths
Missouri 68 cases 1 death
Montana 67 cases 0 deaths
Nebraska 215 cases 0 deaths
Nevada 327 cases 0 deaths
New Hampshire 237 cases 0 deaths
New Jersey 1289 cases 10 deaths
New Mexico 232 cases 0 deaths
New York 2582 cases 52 deaths
North Carolina 312 cases 2 deaths
North Dakota 58 cases 0 deaths
Ohio 147 cases 1 death
Oklahoma 150 cases 1 death
Oregon 403 cases 4
Pennsylvania 1794 cases 6 deaths
Rhode Island 177 cases 2 death
South Carolina 176 cases 0 deaths
South Dakota 34 cases 0 deaths
Tennessee 213 cases 0 deaths
Texas 4463 cases 21 deaths
Utah 953 cases 14 deaths
Vermont 50 cases 0 deaths
Virginia 306 cases 2 death
Washington 636 cases 4 deaths
Washington, D.C. 45 cases 0 deaths
West Virginia 179 cases 0 deaths
Wisconsin 6031 cases 4 death
Wyoming 99 cases 0 deaths
Territories
Guam 1 case 0 deaths
Puerto Rico 18 cases 0 deaths
Virgin Islands 15 case 0 deaths
TOTAL (54)* 37,246 cases 211 deaths
We need to keep watching this so we have ANY kind of hope in dealing with it if it DOES mutate. Diligence and readiness is key.
Peter
Sources:
AP - Swine flu shots at school: Bracing for fall return
Hey folks,
I'm still getting, well, before the Email Change, NEW EMAIL opntalk@gmail.com, from some of you wondering why I keep following this so closely. Here is why. Normal Flu has a season. When it turns warmer, it goes away to return during "Flu Season" then goes away again. Not with Swine Flu. It is still very much alive and is STILL Spreading. So what happens when actual "Flu Season" DOES come back around? Will it be more deadly? Will it spread MORE easily? Will it mutate to become something else? This is why it HAS to be watched. According to the AP - Swine flu shots at school: Bracing for fall return By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard, Ap Medical Writer – 1 hr 10 mins agoWASHINGTON – U.S. swine flu vaccinations could begin in October with children among the first in line — at their local schools — the Obama administration said Thursday as the president and his Cabinet urged states to figure out now how they'll tackle the virus' all-but-certain resurgence.
"We may end up averting a crisis. That's our hope," said President Barack Obama, who took time away from the G-8 summit in Italy to telephone another summit back home — the 500 state and local health officials meeting to prepare for swine flu's fall threat.
No final decision has been made on whether to vaccinate Americans, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius stressed. That depends largely on studies with experimental batches that are set to start the first week of August — to see if they're safe and seem to work and to learn whether they require one or two doses.
But if all goes well, the federal government will buy vaccine from manufacturers and share it for free among the states, which must then "try and get this in the arms of the targeted population as soon as possible," Sebelius said.
First in line probably will be school-age children, young adults with risky conditions such as asthma, pregnant women and health workers, she said. Unlike regular winter flu, the swine flu seems more dangerous to these groups than to older people.
"Schools are natural places" to offer those vaccines, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said.
Go home and get schools, mayors and other community leaders to spread that message, Sebelius said.
"The last thing we want is millions of parents to be surprised" the day the get-your-kid-vaccinated-at-school note comes home, she said.
Schools do occasionally team up with local health officials for special flu vaccination clinics, but it's not common. More than 140 schools around the country scheduled flu vaccination days last fall, some providing free vaccine. Some vaccinated only students bearing parent consent forms; others opened their doors to entire families.
It will be a confusing fall, Sebelius acknowledged. Doctors' offices, clinics and even grocery stores will be in the midst of dispensing 100 million-plus doses of regular winter flu vaccine — and the swine flu vaccine, which will roll out slowly, will require at least one completely separate inoculation.
"We know a mass vaccination program of even modest scale will involve extraordinary effort on your part," Sebelius told state health workers.
She also announced $350 million in grants to help states prepare, money to be used partly to brace hospitals for a surge of demand from the truly sick and the well-but-worried.
"We want to make sure we are not promoting panic but we are promoting vigilance and preparation," Obama told the gathering.
State officials welcomed the funds but had more practical questions for the feds, starting with what they learned from the chaos when swine flu first burst on the scene last spring and schools around the country closed because of sick students.
Since then, the virus has infected an estimated 1 million Americans and still is spreading, remarkable considering influenza usually can't tolerate summer's heat and humidity.
"What I need from all of you is an idea of when it is best to close, when it is necessary to close and when it's not," said Belinda Pustka, superintendent of Texas' Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District.
"Closing school is a last resort not a first resort," Duncan stressed, but he said schools need to plan how they'll keep students learning if they do have to close for extended periods.
Pustka's schools posted assignments online. But Sue Todey of Wisconsin's Department of Public Education said that between rural geography and poverty, many students don't have the necessary Internet access and she's exploring using public television or old-fashioned sending home of paper assignments.
An even bigger problem: When schools close and working parents need to stay home — or any worker gets sick — too often, they don't get paid, said Paul Jarris of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. So they come to work, spreading infection.
"How are we going to assist people who don't have benefits?" he asked.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said she was working with the Labor Department to address that question, and she urged employers to allow telecommuting and make other provisions should swine flu hit their workplaces this fall.
Swine flu outbreaks in the fall are all but certain given its continued spread here — 50 outbreaks in children's summer camps so far — and abroad, with major problems in parts of the Southern Hemisphere.
What doctors can't predict is how bad it will be during the U.S. flu season, but Obama's team of heavy-hitters spent Thursday warning against complacency.
Even if swine flu proves no more deadly than regular winter flu, that kills 36,000 Americans a year — and with swine flu, teenagers and young adults are being disproportionately hit, said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And both types could very well spread at the same time this fall.
"If it doesn't happen, we'll be fortunate," Sebelius added.
CDC Update Case count on their site?
Alabama 400 cases 0 deaths
Alaska 122 cases 0 deaths
Arizona 762 cases 11 deaths
Arkansas 42 cases 0 deaths
California 2461 31 deaths
Colorado 146 cases 0 deaths
Connecticut 1364 cases 6 deaths
Delaware 347 cases 0 deaths
Florida 1781 cases 7 death
Georgia 138 cases 0 deaths
Hawaii 722 cases 1 death
Idaho 115 cases 0 deaths
Illinois 3259 cases 14 deaths
Indiana 273 cases 0 deaths
Iowa 156 cases 0 deaths
Kansas 136 cases 0 deaths
Kentucky 130 cases 0 deaths
Louisiana 183 cases 0 deaths
Maine 107 cases 0 deaths
Maryland 686 cases 2 death
Massachusetts 1328 cases 4 deaths
Michigan 489 cases 8 deaths
Minnesota 634 3 death
Mississippi 188 cases 0 deaths
Missouri 68 cases 1 death
Montana 67 cases 0 deaths
Nebraska 215 cases 0 deaths
Nevada 327 cases 0 deaths
New Hampshire 237 cases 0 deaths
New Jersey 1289 cases 10 deaths
New Mexico 232 cases 0 deaths
New York 2582 cases 52 deaths
North Carolina 312 cases 2 deaths
North Dakota 58 cases 0 deaths
Ohio 147 cases 1 death
Oklahoma 150 cases 1 death
Oregon 403 cases 4
Pennsylvania 1794 cases 6 deaths
Rhode Island 177 cases 2 death
South Carolina 176 cases 0 deaths
South Dakota 34 cases 0 deaths
Tennessee 213 cases 0 deaths
Texas 4463 cases 21 deaths
Utah 953 cases 14 deaths
Vermont 50 cases 0 deaths
Virginia 306 cases 2 death
Washington 636 cases 4 deaths
Washington, D.C. 45 cases 0 deaths
West Virginia 179 cases 0 deaths
Wisconsin 6031 cases 4 death
Wyoming 99 cases 0 deaths
Territories
Guam 1 case 0 deaths
Puerto Rico 18 cases 0 deaths
Virgin Islands 15 case 0 deaths
TOTAL (54)* 37,246 cases 211 deaths
We need to keep watching this so we have ANY kind of hope in dealing with it if it DOES mutate. Diligence and readiness is key.
Peter
Sources:
AP - Swine flu shots at school: Bracing for fall return
NOTE: New Email opntalk@gmail.com
1 comment:
This is simply incredible. I'd like to share some information I'd like to share some facts i've gathered from my personal experiences as a physician.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted the vaccines that will be accessible this autumn to shield people against many seasonal flu viruses predicted to be in the air this fall equinox and winter.
These yearly relationship flu shots or corporate flu shots fee-tail not include protection in opposition to the deadly swine flu (novel H1N1) virus. A different immunise was created for this swine flu sickness.
Influenza is a disease of the lung and cellular respiration system which causes millions of sick men and women each month and could cause severe issues, specifically in kids and older adults. Alas, the respiratory disorder vaccine — accessible insect powder flu shots salem as nasal sprays — prevents the contagious disease.
Answers to back up asked questions regarding flu shots:
When are flu shots obtainable?
The influenza vaccinate is normally accessible throughout September and New style calendar, which is naturally american than the timing winter start of flu season. Nonetheless, receiving flu shots even later united kingdom the flu time of astronomical year could still guard you. It may take up to duo weeks to become immune after getting asian influenza shots.
Ground musty I get immunized each year?
You require yearly flu shots since the influenza virus differs each year. The vaccinate you received middle west the previous year was not intended to battle the virus strains united states of america the air this current flu season.
Flu viruses modify so rapidly that they can make one season’s flu shots useless by the time the following season rolls around. The Center for Disease Tick and Prevention (CDC) advisory skateboard spends time together reachable the beginning of the year to forecaster which strains of influenza germ will delimit most widespread throughout the impending influenza season, and producers create vaccines depending on those suggestions.
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